PlayMaker’s
new production of the classic, Raisin in
the Sun, is one of its very best.
The play written by Loraine Hansberry, a Black woman, debuted on
Broadway during segregation in the late 1950’s. Not wanting us to forget the stultifying
obstacles to African American success, the current director, Raelle
Myrick-Hodges chose (brilliantly) to refresh our understanding by interspersing
lines from an interview with Hansberry.
Inserted at the beginning, middle, and end of the play, the excerpts weave
thematically with the drama at hand. Still,
in a conversation at intermission, friends wondered: Was it
necessary? I mean don’t we all know about segregation and the hardships of African
American life in the 50’s? I don’t
know. Do we? I’d like to think Yes, but maybe with a Black president and a world in which minority
perspectives regularly appear on the front page, we’ve forgotten how it was
back then. Regardless, Hansberry’s
comments enrich our understanding of both the play and the denigration she
experienced. It should also encourage us. Despite ongoing tensions in our culture, we
have moved forward.

If Raisin in the Sun pertained only to
racism, it might have lost power with the changing times, but dramaturgs have praised
it for its ongoing resonance. At heart,
it portrays a family complicated by individual ambitions and loyalties—a chorus
of asynchronous accordions, expanding and shrinking desires. At the center is Lena. (Kathryn Hunter-Williams plays this matriarch
so perfectly that despite having seen this actress in at least 15 productions,
I thought of her only as Lena.) Lena takes
charge of the household where her two adult children, a daughter-in-law, and grandson
live with her. Firm in her faith, Lena tries
to ground her children and grandson in Christian values; however, she does not
deny their hardships or minimize them with talk of Heaven and the promise of
something better. She embodies a rare
duality: while seeming to accept without rancor what’s wrong with their
situation, she also works to change it. From
the beginning, we learn that Lena will receive a windfall that has the
potential to alter everyone’s life. Midway
through the action, she takes a tremendous risk. With the aim of finally achieving her dream
and others’, her decision cascades into apparent triumphs as well as disasters.

Her children,
Walter and Beneatha, seem to struggle more than she does. Unhappy with their present circumstances, they
both dream of storied futures, and they search the world around them for
visions of success. Walter, forcefully
played by Mikaal Sulaiman, can’t stand the daily insults of his job. Having seen the easy, catered lives of his
White employers, he develops a viral desire to have what they have. His sister, well played by Miriam A. Hyman, pursues
out-of-reach goals as well. She wants to
become a doctor, but she has no clear financial pathway to studying medicine. In this tightly bound family, only Lena and Walter’s
wife, Ruth, seem grounded. They have fantasies of a different life, but neither
nurses these until they seem attainable.
They are the most flexible characters: able to embrace change whether
good or bad.

Part of the
play’s brilliance lies in the dance of family and society. These interrelated characters must find a way
to balance their individual needs with those of the family while negotiating
the trap of the larger society. At
times, their competing desires scatter them, but the draw of family remains. Each character becomes a vital force in the action,
and even though we leave the play satisfied, we understand that not all
conflicts have been resolved. We know the
drama goes on.